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Listen I'm sorry I had to post this question here but there really wasn't a section for it...So here goes...

I'm interviewing with an Publishing/Television/E-commerce company in NYC on Wednesday for a position as an HTML coder. I'll be speaking with one of the lead HTML producers. There site currently uses MS IIS, NT, SQL, and ASP to run their site. They're looking for HTML programmers to focus on coding ASP, HTML, and Javascript pages. The pages themselves heavily depend on page layout using triple nested tables and 1px spacers (yah I know, haven't hopped on the absolute positioning bandwagon yet).

I've searched everywhere on the net and can't seem to find sample interview questions for HTML coders. So what I was hoping was that all you professional HTML coders out there; Can you put on your thinking caps and think up some interview questions to test a person's grasp of HTML page design, dynamic page generation with ASP, and any general questions that would test a person's knowledge of HTML...

This is really exciting for me, and hopefully with your help, I can log on Friday with some great news.

Thank you very much and I look forward to all of your great responses...

3. Of Javascript and Visual Basic Script which one is case-sensitive?Javascript

4. How many and what kinds of Data Types does Visual Basic Script have?1, Variant

5. If all VB script variables are the same type how can you distinguish your data within an ASP application?There are specialized functions to tell the scripting engine what kind of data the variable holds. i.e. CDate for date or CStr for String.

6. What are the six objects made available by ASP to IIS?Server, Application, Session, Response, Request, Error

8. What is the result when you insert "document.write('hello world')" into an ASP page.It produces an Error

Why?The document object is provided by the browsers and therefore exists on the client side and not the server. If you used the same code within either a VB Script or Javascript in the browser it would print out "Hello World" within the document.

9. Using SSI or ASP how would you include one file within another?&lt;!-- #include file="filetoinclude.inc" --&gt;

10. Which is language is more suited to client-side scripting in today's environment? Visual Basic Script or Javascript?Javascript

Why?
[b]Of the two Javascript is cross-platform and cross-browser.

11. You have a table (empTable) with the following fields: empID, empName, empAddress, empPhone, empSSN. You have to find out the address of the employee with ID 99 how would you do this in a SQL statement? select empAddress from empTable where empID = 99
or you could substitute '*' for empAddress as they would still get all the information needed.

Wasn't sure by your message if you were taking the interview or helping to administer it. Anyway those questions should get you started.

Just to clarify... Yes I AM taking the interview. I already made it past the first round and I interviewed with the most dynamic individual...He was their VP of internet development and had a phD in EE and had been doing internet architecture and engineering for the past 8 years with some pretty distinguished companies... But most of all, he was just a normal guy with a great sense of humor and someone I would kill to have be my boss/mentor.

At this point I'm thoroughly exhausted because I've printed off every primer in sight and have been reading non-stop since Friday. I think at this point, I have a pretty good shot at making it past the 2nd round and with the questions you supplied, I've got an even better chance...

So yeah, I know you're real busy and all, but if ANYTHING else comes to mind let me know...When all is said and done, I'll put together a "sample technical questions for web developers" web page and make it available for free (all the ones I found you had to pay for grrrrrr...)

Once again thanks, I'll post back on Wednesday to let you know how it went... and if ANYTHING else comes to mind, please post the questions...

thnx...

w-

oh, I knew the answer to the 1st question I just didn't understand the question the first time I read it...but I'm glad you asked it...

You're reading a post from one of marthastewart.com's newest HTML coders!!!

Dude I rocked the interview! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I know you get some small pleasure in helping people by responding to inquiry after inquiry from everyone from the beginning WYSIWIG'r to the hard core developers...So it's not difficult for me to extend a solemn, thank you!!! thank you!!! thank you!!! for all your help and being the diligent coordinator you are - I couldn't have achieved this without you and your site...that's right, your site, I've learned more from Sitepoint than I could have learned from 50 books - and now I have my dream job because of it...

First, CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm excited for you and I don't even know who you are!!! You'll have to post periodic updates in the boards letting us know how the job is going. We could live vicariously through you! (Or at least *I* could...)

Second, I got almost all of the questions Wayne posted. And I honestly thought I really didn't know too much about this stuff. I've been hesitant to delve into ASP/PHP et al because I thought the learning curve would be extensive. Looks like I might already know a lot of the fundamental basics! Hey, is marthastewart.com still hiring? Do they take Canadian Coders? (just joking, although if you have any side-work you want to farm out...)

Anyway. I was just going through the boards and came across this one. What a thrill to see a before and after scenerio. Once again, congratulations!

I got there at about 10 to 4, handed my name in at the front desk and then waited another 20 MINUTES before I saw the guy...Turns out, the receptionist hadn't communicated to my interviewer that I was WAITING, instead my interviewer thought I was being sent down...So he was waiting while I was waiting...and well, after the fact it paints a silly picture...

So we got to talking about this that and the other thing, talking about what technologies were appropriate for different applications and then a quick q&a session, and then, then the cool part came...He printed off one of the products that MSLO sells and asked me, "if one of the producers came to you and said, here we need you to code this into a page, how would you go about breaking it up into tables and yada yada yada."

Now because the roots of MSLO go back into publishing (i.e. magazine layout), EACH item had to be placed pixel perfect...If you take a look at one of their pages..You'll notice that for every 1 line of actual code...there's 3 lines of pixel spacer code used to get a pixel perfect layout...I couldn't believe it!!! 2 Pages of Browser Printout equated to 24 pages of ACTUAL CODE!!! No small feat for the average coder...but not impossible either...

One interesting thing I did was to view the code in DreamWeaver because it shows how the tables were laid out...and once I got that visual, it was cake to figure out how they laid out their tables and used pixel spacers... Incidentally, I took screenshots of the graphical table layout and then assembled a printable graphic in Photoshop showing the entire page WITH tables (a feature that I know, no editor currently has)...and then showed this to my interviewer...His first reaction aside from surprise was "How'd you do that?"

It was at that point, that I knew I had it in the bag.

So yeah...it's 2 days later and I'm still coming down off my high...As far as the ASP/PHP tech...I'm going to have to perform a miracle by learning in about a month because although the position doesn't require it...I know that that's the quickest way up the ladder.

!!!EVENTUALLY!!!
I plan on working my way into a career with this. And although i want to be blunt in asking what kinda cash flow a guy like you will make in a job like that... Ill be more polite and classy in phrasing it...

Would you say now that you no longer need to work free lance or any other side jobs?
I mean, does this career move basically fullfill the money needs?

And if or when i move into a company, what kind of hours would i be expecting? 9 to 5ers?

Hehe - sorry about the confusion here...the 'South Park'(the movie) comment was directed to the Canadian gentleman who posted the reply above that post...I just saw SP a few days before posting it and thought, if you were Canadian, and then suddenly saw a toilet humor trash talking comedic cartoon that had a song name 'Blame Canada' and made incessant references to 1) How Canadians end every statements with a question (eh?) and Pronounce About (american-Abowt) as About (can.-Aboot).

so yah, that's what I was referring to...Oh and thnx everyone for the kind comments...

I'll see if I can get Martha to do a site redesign/consultation (hehe no offense Wayne)...